Bridal Shower

My roommate, Esperanza, threw me a bridal shower yesterday. She and Marty and Melanie made the most amazing food, and it was also the only thing photographed. :) I thought along with sharing the pictures, I would also share some of the advice people wrote down for me. Some of it was pretty funny, and some of it is probably really wise.

One really awesome surprise was that Melanie, who was the stake camp director this year, had invited the YCLs (youth camp leaders) to come to the shower. (I went to girl's camp this year as the YCL leader). They made a loud, surprise entrance after everyone else was already sitting down. What a great surprise! And honestly, their advice was some of my favorite to read. 

So without further ado, here are a few of my favorites:

"Pick your battles. Socks in the living room: maybe not a big deal. Toilet seat staying up at night: much bigger deal." (from Misty, in the branch)

"Make time for the 'me' as well as the 'we.' (from Amanda, in the branch)

"Lots of sweets, it makes them fat and jolly." (from Emma, one of my YCLs)

"Hmmm, I really have no idea! Smile, laugh. Have some alone time. Read the scriptures!" (I think this one came from Grace, in the branch)

"Stay close to the Lord together. The best thing you can do to strengthen your relationship is to pray and study together. Have a hobby or interest you share and always have a weekly date! Be patient and laugh a lot!" (I'm pretty sure this was from Sister Beesley, whom I worked with at camp and whom I admire immensely)

"Don't be embarrassed to talk to your old married lady friends. Stuff that you think should be easy is sometimes the hardest to work out." (from Aubrey, in my cohort, who is only a couple years older than me but has been married for 4 years)

"Don't let him make you do all the hard work. You should share all responsibilities equally." (from a YCL, who probably doesn't know what a hard worker Chad is and that maybe her statement should be reversed)

"Scriptures, prayer, and a kiss before you leave home every morning." (from Marty, who was the longest-married person at my shower and has one of the sweetest relationships I know. She added, "It's really hard to be mad at each other if you do that.")

". . . important words to use when needed: I'm sorry, you were right, I didn't mean to. Words to use every day: I love you, thank you, you are amazing. Keep the romance alive. It is easy at first, but harder as life gets busier." (from Melanie, another long-time married who I trust big-time)

And finally, Esperanza's joke-advice, "Never go to bed angry," (therapists don't like giving cliche advice) which she later modified. "Don't forget the value of complaining. Self-sacrifice is crap." (Also semi-jokey, the last part is poking fun at things we've heard MFT professors say.) 

There was more advice, but that's probably enough for one blog post. I'm really grateful so many friends could come celebrate with me. And now, pictures of food:

the spread. yummmm

cherry limeade (in the colors!)

cake (again, the colors!)

cake balls. wow

chicken salad sandwiches

puppy chow--one of my all-time favorites

honey-butter carrots (organic! :) )

lemon bars

Esperanza's famous cheese ball

Trip Home: Graduation and Wedding Prep

I was home last week for Emma's graduation. She was Valedictorian of her class and gave an amazing speech. I have been watching the recording now and again for some continued inspiration to get me through my final summer of grad school. :)

I am so proud of her. 

I also wanted to share a couple of the great wedding finds my mom and I had while I was home. We went yardsaling, hoping to find wooden picture frames (hoping to paint them white, sand the edges for a distressed look, and hang with ribbons to make something like this). Anyway, we scored pretty big. We landed at the yardsale of an elementary school art teacher (who my mom happens to know), and not only did we find about 20 good frames for painting, we found an adorable old step ladder, some old window panes (for hanging pictures, as well), and an awesome vintage door, pictured below. Perfect little shelf there for setting the guestbook on. $30 for ALL OF THAT.  

Mom and I also worked on staining some old canning jars green...to make them look antique. Food coloring and mod podge does the trick. These look really cute with the pink daisies and colored ribbon and we'll use them for centerpieces.

I should have taken more pictures, really. But I will mention that we also found several lace curtains (they'll work for tablecloths to go over the colored tablecloths we've got) and a great easel on which to set the framed chalkboard I got at another yardsale. $3 for the tablecloths/easel.

Anyway, things are coming together and it's been so fun to have these little projects. I've spent some time hand-addressing my adorable kraft envelopes (brown-paper-bag style) for the announcements. A lot of people told me I was crazy for doing it by hand, but they're turning out so cute. 

Sigh. Most of all, the wedding is coming right up and I'm so excited. Sure, it is fun (okay, really fun) to have an excuse to execute all of my dream crafts. But take away all the crafts, all the projects, all the yardsaling. We could elope, and I'd still be elated. 68 more days!! 

Hopeful

My, oh my. Bothered that the new blogger isn't allowing me to separate my paragraphs out. 96 days til the wedding. I just checked. I have been working NON STOP on my thesis. Well, as non stop as I've ever worked on it, anyway. Something crazy came over me a couple weeks ago and I decided it was time to set a date for my defense, and when I mentioned this to my major professor, he suggested we shoot for April 30th. Even though I knew it was crazy, and I'm pretty sure he pulled that date out of nowhere, I decided to go for it. I need to have it submitted to my committee by this coming Monday, so I've done a ton of work on it these past several days. The whole thing (the thesis, I mean) has really transformed, even since I thought I was getting close with it last week when I sent it to my major professor. And the project is consuming--for as much as I've put it off so many times, I just love reading all the comments and remembering who said what and making connections and just...being there. (quick update: my thesis is from when I went to Aruba a few summers ago and did focus groups on marriage/relationship education). In a weird way, it'll be a little sad to be done with this project. It keeps me feeling connected to a place and people I love so dearly. But overall, I will be SO HAPPY to be done. I've got final projects due because the semester is ending, and I'm about to be done with my thesis. And then it will be summer. This summer is going to be great--it will consist of long-ish Tuesdays at the clinic (just like always), Wednesdays and Thursdays at my internship, and...that's it. No readings, no class, just clients at school and my internship, and supervision meetings (meetings about my therapy with my supervisors). This is fabulous. AND NO THESIS. It will be done! In less than 2 weeks, I will see Chad. He has a week off because his semester is ending, too, so he's coming down for a few days. We already have a beach/camping trip planned with some friends. I'm so excited for my first beach trip of the summer. And more excited to see Chad. I just can't quite get enough time with him. Once my thesis is done, I will probably launch into full-blown countdown mode. Countdowns to trips, and the countdown to the big day. I can't believe how fast time has already gone--we've been engaged for 3 months, already! Goodness. The day Chad leaves, I fly out to visit home for a week. I get to see Emma graduate and give her Valedictorian speech! I also get to see her either sing in her last choir concert, or play tennis at the Colorado state tournament. Or maybe both? I'm so proud of her! I can't wait to hang out with her and the rest of my family. This post is probably a little more boring and ME-ish than usual. I think I morphed into journal mode as I was writing tonight. It feels good to get some thoughts out, though. Good times. And tomorrow is Sunday! There is nothing like the anticipation of a nice, relaxing Sunday. Good night, world.

Math

124 days until my last day of work
125 days until my last day of class
129 days until the wedding
136 days until graduation

I can do ANYTHING for 4 months and a little. Anything!

Ok, so I'm a little worried about getting everything done, but I'm really trying to believe it can happen. It's got to. Right?